This invention relates to a push-button switch and more particularly to a push-button switch of an illuminating type which may be set conveniently on a wall surface beside the entrance to an elevator for indicating an upward or downward direction.
As disclosed in FIGS. 2 and 3 of Japanese Patent Publication Tokkai 11-314861, for example, a push-button switch is generally structured such that a switch main body is activated as the operating surface of the push-button is pressed so as to push and displace a plunger and contains an illuminator using a light source such as an LED for displaying that the switch main body has been activated.
With a prior art bush-button switch thus structured, a relatively large number of LEDs are usually employed as light sources in order to illuminate the whole of the operating surface of the push-button and it has been one of the causes of its high production cost.
The plunger of such a prior art bush-button switch is adapted to be guided by means of a fixed guide member when it is pushed and displaced as the push-button is pressed. This guide member is required to be adapted to guide the plunger over a relatively long distance in order to be able to displace the plunger slidingly even when only an edge portion of the operating surface of the push-button is pressed. This tends to make the switch thicker as a whole.